Armor-piercing projectile.



w. D A LTON. PIERC NG I917. 19,301,822. Patented Apr. 29,1919. 1 9 2 SHEET$SHEET 2.

To all whom it may concern: i j Beit known that I, WIILIAM'DALTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Armor Piercing Projectiles;

aafull, clear, and lexact description of the a same, reference being had to the accompany ingd'rawings, forming part of this specification.- 1;

T monly designatedi as the cap. A Caps of the type herein contemplatedserve to facilitate the: passage of the body a of the. projectile ofit egprojectile; .sI'n .a icontemporaneous the point ,or :nose ofthe projectile body, and ,experience has shown that a cap embodying this construction is more efiicient than where I j a soft metal-cap is employed and is equally as efiicient and as amanufacturing proposiption much; more practical than where the I cap is' anintegral structurehaving a hardened external striking portion. 7

' 'The -object'of the present invention is to improve upon the structure disclosed in said i 4o 185,163,? filed Aug. 8, 1917 and allowed Nov. 1 6,1917, in such wise that the tendency of the n point 201 th'e projectile bodyoto be shattered will51 9, 1 3 1 .rably overcome, and the eflii'shing capacity is concerned, correspond,- A ingly ncreased; Y

capaiszso formed and positioned with relar.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Yand Ido'hereby' declare the following to be Thi's' invention relates to projectiles of the armor piercing type and hastodo specifi cally withithfat partof such projectilescoma v jectile.

through1resistantiprotective. armor and are commonly: trri adelofmetal which; is; touglr butisoft'ora ductile; ;.as..compared with the. T projectileitself," or the point Or' nose: portion r zcontemporaneous application Serial No.

c1ency,in so faras armor piercing'and punr carry ng, the invention I into practice :2 h d ned etalgstrikingportion of the.

thereon.

f i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' I LIANI, DALTON, OF WASHINGTON, DIsTRIcT OF COLUMBIA, ASsIGNOIt To' WASHINGTON STEEL & ORDNANCE COMPANY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OI COLUMBIA, A CORPORATION OF wEsT VIRGINIA.

ARMOR-PIERCING PROJEGTILE.

Patented Apr, 29, 1919.

Application filed December 22, 1917. Serial No. 208,474.

tion to the point or nose of'the projectile body that the hardened metal striking portion will form in efl'ect a seat for the nose of the projectile body when the soft metal of the cap normally separating'the two is displaced by the impact against the target. The seat so formed extends over a conand stresses transmitted through the hard metal striking portion to the point or nose of the projectile are distributed,'thereby avoiding a concentration'of the strains'or stresses at a single polnt, or in a small area siderable area, and consequently the strains at the extreme point or nosefof the pro- -The fundamental invention may-be carrie dinto-practice in' a varietyv of ways and while ideal' conditions would indicate that the rear face of the: hard'metal striking portion of thecap should be made tojc'on- L form to-thenose or point of the projectile I 4 body throughout a considerable area, a conapplication.iiled by iAle-xanderG. McKenna andgiwilliain Dalton, vSerial No. 185,163,. 1 therelis disclosedja-Ecap forjarmorlpiercing projectiles in which cap there is incorpoej ratedg'a very'ihard striking portion .whichis.v held inthe cap in asposition :in advance of;

siderabl latitude in this respect :may be indulged in, sometimes-with beneficialresults,

owing to'the fact that-the relatively soft metal of the cap which -must be displaced by the forward progress of the projectile body upon impact against-the target, will;

flow laterally andv will forman fi'ective packing material, as it were, between the rear face of the hardened strikingportion and noseof the projectile. As the distance between the'two decreases, and the volume of relatively soft metal decreases in this area, the resistance to displacement correspondingly increases and the ultimate result Referring to the accompanying draw ings,. f I

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the nose or point of a projectile with a cap embodying the present improvements mounted nose portion of the projectile in Fig. 1, and as shown in this figure the point or extreme end of the nose portion is varied somewhat from the ordinary ogivalffqrm by being B indicatesthe body of .thesoft metal-cap which made relatively blunt as at A".

is seated on the nose portion of the projec tile and held by approved means, for example, by having its rear edge'peened into a recess in the projectile; rl -he body of the soft metal cap. B, insofar as the portion e lzthekpresent invention-therear face-' orthat "face of-ithe strikingportion with which the f I 'nose" portion *"Qfl the-i projectile? coiiperates i upon; impact, is preferably shaped. t'oI sub: stantially. conform to: the shape of the eX- tremityof thej nose portionlthroughouta thereof which surrounds; and supports the, nose'of the projectile. and inso'faras the windshieldC when employedare concerned,- may. be of the usual or preferred construcr" tion'. v{Ihe soft meta'l v cap carries or has;in1 corporated in' it a separately formed strikingjportion D, which is .of' a metal. made eX-, ceedingly hard and tough. As. a convenient construction the striking portion is seated in a suitablechambeninfthe forwardportion; of the-bodyof the soft metal cap andisheld'thereiii by havingtheedges of the seat or. chamber 1 peenedifover a "iportion of the striking portionas atrb. l'In1accordance -witl1 I considerable area; As shown'zin Fig. 1' the to insure a' firm'seating'of'one against the jectile with a suflicient degree :of'accuracy other when the intermediate soft metal of the cap isfdisplaced, or in any event the shock of impact is distributed throughout a very considerable area of the'extremity'of the nose portion'and consequently the tend encyto shatter or split off from a concentration of the strains and stresses at-a single point is largely overcome, V c

In Fig. 2 a constructionis shown in which the extremepoint or end of the projectile nose atA isjcutaway or flattened at D "Irithis construction surrounding annul a r-f bead-like formation as at D maybe 'for'medj ing-partofjhard'metalcarried by the cap in on the hard striking portion whichwill -alfa 7 :ford additional support for the-nose of the pl' l til'e at the moment; of impact; I 7

Obviously the rear faceof the hard striktt fr m a jof rd n ryor pprov curs, a; suflicient quantity of: the nietal: .re-;;

? throughout'alconsiderableareas,

to distribute the strains and stresses throughout a considerable area of the point of the projectile without changing the shape of the practice, and one such formation. is illustrated in Fig. 3. V I

In 'Fi 3 the structure isparticularly designed or use as aso-lcalleddeck-piercing P ecti e nd is co s ucti n: ther of theprojectile bod ispointed as at A andthe hardened stri ing portion D of the cap is formed" with a conically recessed or chambered rear face as at D, the, angle. of, the conical face being slightly wider than. the angle of theasurfeee of the point of the projectile. In this instance also the center- "ing of the hardened-striking portionfis per-,1

,forated, at d? and" its front isdishedito; form a sharp annularedge at 0Z designed to bite into the surface of the target whenrthe im pact is at, an acute angle toxthat" surface;

In. all forms of the invention illustrated,

the'soft inetalintermediatethefpoint' offthe projectile; and the hard striking portionisj r probably displacedlaterally whendmp'actoomaining, however, regardless of the pressure, to form an'eifective seat. for the nose of the 1 projectile andfto; distribute thefstrains' and J stresseseover.*tlre' gfziont end: 'o-f the' iproj'e'ctile," j

;Wh'at?is claimed is; V V -1 Astriking member of fan armor-pierc-f ing projectile: ofthei type in. whichtheistrike ing1member s tr relativelyjhar dsmetal and} 00 is placedoirltheforward ortion ofithe sgftfs if f metal inosei'which 'surrounds -the haiid'ened n e jthe r i i e sewe a ieving its-rear face shaped-t0 substantially congri for'ln tolthe shapeof -and' provide afbearingfl for: axconsiderable areaofthe surfaioeo f'thelj A hardened nose of the projectileiwhen the V V 1 tter isbrought intgcontact withJthe-strik- Y rear face ofothe strikingportion at Bf conl Y i fonnstothe" shape of: the nose of thepro 2. The-c0 bi ation 'w ith ai softgjmeta cap for an armor; piercing: projectile, said. cap; having. a rear-- fac' surrounding; the"nose l 10f; the projectile,j of; a' relatively 'ha'rdf V having a body' portion ofjre atively softf if metal adapted "to surroundlandsuripertjthe} hardened point-:of the'prpjectileand a strik a front of; and spaced -ifrom'fsaid point;- by the 4 i intermediat relatively sqft meta} fifli' a T 1 F the freanface: of'*thei hard striking portion beingshapedtoisuhstantially confers; be the 1 'point of the pro ectile and take laisupport-jgi'sgo 2512' ing bearing in an'extended area thereon when the intermediate soft metal of the cap is displaced.

4. ,A cap for armor piercing projectiles 5v comprising a body portion of relatively soft a metal formedto inclose the hardened point of the projectile and having incorporated therein at its forward end a separately formed striking portion of hard metal, the rear face of said striking portion being re- 10 cessed to substantially conform to the contour of the point of the projectile whereby an extended bearing is afl'orded between the projectile and striking :portion when the relatively soft metal of the cap is displaced. 15

WILLIAM DALTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington; D. 0. 

